How to get a dealer license in Maine

Under 29-A M.R.S. §951, you may not engage in the business of buying, selling, exchanging, negotiating or advertising the sale of vehicles without a dealer license. You are in that business if you buy vehicles to resell, sell more than 5 vehicles in any 12-month period, or advertise or display 3 or more vehicles for sale within 30 days on premises you control. Vehicles you have owned and registered for at least 6 months do not count. A dealer licensed in another jurisdiction who sells only to Maine licensed dealers is exempt, and dealing without a license is a Class E crime.

• New vehicle dealer: Dealers whose main business is new motor vehicles under a written appointment from a manufacturer or distributor. You need this license to keep more than 5 new vehicles on a licensed facility at one time.
• Online used car dealer (pilot program): Licensed used car dealers that sell only through online platforms and have no in-person sales lot in Maine. It requires at least 100 sales a year in multiple states, a $350,000 bond and a $500 annual fee, and the law ends December 31, 2028.
• Motorcycle dealer: Dealers whose main business is new or used motorcycles. The license is $50 a year and plates are $5 each.
• Light trailer dealer: Dealers in trailers or semitrailers with an unladen weight of 3,000 pounds or less. No surety bond is required.
• Trailer dealer: Dealers in mobile homes or in trailers or semitrailers weighing more than 3,000 pounds unladen.
• Equipment dealer: Dealers in farm tractors over 40 horsepower and in farm, construction or industrial vehicles and equipment. No surety bond is required.
• Transporter license: Garages, towing businesses, body shops, finance companies, banks, auctions, rental companies, recyclers and repossession companies that move vehicles they own or have custody of.
• Trailer transit license: Businesses that deliver or service mobile homes or tiny homes, move storage trailers, or transport light trailers, modular homes or modular home frames.
• Vehicle auction business license: Businesses that run vehicle auctions for gain. The Secretary of State inspects the premises before licensing, and the fee is $150 a year.
• Recycler license: Businesses that acquire vehicles or parts to resell as salvage or scrap, rebuild salvage vehicles for resale, sell parts, or act as scrap processors. Recyclers who sell rebuilt salvage vehicles must also meet the dealer licensing rules.

Surety bond. The bond is based on the prior year's sales: $25,000 for 0 to 50 sales, $50,000 for 51 to 100, $75,000 for 101 to 150, and $100,000 for 151 or more. New licensees file a bond based on projected sales, and the Secretary of State reviews every dealer's bond amount each year. Equipment and light trailer dealers are exempt. Claims must be filed within 3 years of the sale, and failing to keep the bond is grounds for immediate suspension (29-A M.R.S. §901). Online used car dealers in the pilot program need a $350,000 bond (29-A M.R.S. §958).

Insurance. Before it issues a dealer license or dealer plates, the Secretary of State requires a certificate of automobile liability insurance covering vehicles with the dealer plates: $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident for bodily injury, and $100,000 for property damage. A surety bond for the same amounts may be filed instead, and the license can be suspended if the insurance is not kept (29-A M.R.S. §1612). The BMV dealer rules require proof of this insurance with the application.

Place of business. Maine law requires an established place of business: a permanent, enclosed building in Maine that is easy to reach, open to the public at reasonable times, and allowed under local building codes and zoning for vehicle display and repair. It needs an improved display area of at least 3,500 square feet in or next to the building, a permanently affixed exterior sign with the business name, and space for the equipment, books and records of the business (29-A M.R.S. §851). You also need a repair department, enough tools to service the vehicles you sell, an office for records, and at least one mechanic, who may be the owner (29-A M.R.S. §952). The BMV dealer rules add a heated office of at least 64 square feet with a desk, 2 chairs and a filing cabinet, separate from living quarters; a heated repair area of at least 400 square feet; a permanent sign of at least 12 square feet readable from 200 feet; and posted hours of at least 30 a week, in at least five 6-hour days between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. A state police officer or a Secretary of State representative must certify the site.

Background check. Applicants submit to a State Bureau of Identification criminal background check at the initial application and at every renewal. The BMV requests the results and charges a fee at application, and state criminal history is used to decide whether a license is granted or kept (29-250 C.M.R. ch. 103). The application also asks whether the applicant, and each partner, officer or director, was found guilty of a crime in the past 5 years or held liable in a judgment for fraud, misrepresentation or conversion (29-A M.R.S. §901).

Pre-license education. Required.

1. Set up an established place of business in Maine with an enclosed building, an office, a repair area, tools, a sign and a display area of at least 3,500 square feet.
2. Confirm the site meets local zoning and building codes, and gather your lease, a plot plan of the premises, and your partnership, corporation or assumed name papers.
3. Get a Maine sales tax number from Maine Revenue Services so you can file a reseller's certificate with your application.
4. Attend the BMV Dealer/Title Workshop, which new applicants must complete before licensure.
5. Get a surety bond based on projected sales ($25,000 for 0 to 50 sales) and liability insurance of $100,000/$300,000/$100,000.
6. File the dealer license application (MVD-350) with the Secretary of State, sworn before a notary, and pay the $150 application fee, the $150 license fee and $20 per dealer plate.
7. Pass the State Bureau of Identification background check and the site inspection by a state police officer or Secretary of State representative.
8. Display your license at your place of business once it is issued.

Official forms:

• Complete Dealer Packet (Rev 09-25)
• Application for a Dealer License (Rev 12-2022), MVD-350

Generally no. A standard Maine dealer license requires an improved display area of at least 3,500 square feet at the place of business. A pilot online used car dealer license, in the statutes until December 31, 2028, exempts dealers that sell only online from the place of business rules, but it requires at least 100 sales a year in multiple states and a $350,000 bond.

Dealer-only auctions sell to licensed dealers, so you need a dealer license to buy there, and running a vehicle auction in Maine takes a separate vehicle auction business license (29-A M.R.S. §1051). AuctionACCESS (auctionaccess.com), which handles dealer registration for over 400 auction marketplaces, limits membership to licensed vehicle dealers and their authorized representatives.

Every year. Licenses are issued on a staggered basis and expire on the last day of the month, one year after issuance (29-A M.R.S. §951). The renewal fee is $150 plus $20 per plate. At renewal you submit to a new State Bureau of Identification background check, file a reseller's certificate showing your Maine sales tax number, and pay the arbitration or mediation fees collected under 10 M.R.S. §1169(11) (29-250 C.M.R. ch. 103). The Secretary of State also reviews your bond amount each year.

This is general information, not legal advice. Rules and fees change, so confirm the details with the Maine Secretary of State, Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV), Dealer Licensing before you apply. Last verified October 20, 2026.

Planning the business side too? Read how to start a car dealership. Maine is exempt from the FTC Used Car Rule and has its own window form rules. Our Buyers Guide page explains the exemption. Selling your own car instead? See how to sell a car in Maine.